Busuttin Eyeing Victoria Derby With Lightly Raced Gallopers

Trent Busuttin won the 2011 Victoria Derby with Sangster and is eyeing the 2014 edition of the Group 1 event with a couple of lightly-raced gallopers.

Trent Busuttin is chasing another win in the Victoria Derby during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival. Photo by: Taron Clarke

Atmosphere is yet to make her racing debut, but according to Busuttin the son of Savabeel has done enough in trackwork and in a barrier trial at Wanganui on May 13 to suggest that he could develop into a contender for the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington on November 1 during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.

“He has shown a fair bit in the trials and he is a very mature spring three-year-old,” Busuttin told Racing Ahead.

“On pedigree and type he looks like a Derby horse.

“Obviously there is a long way to go to that, but we will throw in a nom, bring him over and kick him off somewhere easy and see how where we end up.”

Another three-year-old that will be included in the nominations for the Victoria Derby is Johnhro, who made his racing debut with a second place finish behind Southern Icon in the Redwood Challenge (800m) at Ruakaka in May.

Johnhro drew wide in the Redwood Challenge and showed plenty of early pace to challenge for the lead in the early stages of the race, but he was trapped more than three wide throughout.

The Lonhro colt took the final turn extremely erratically and never ran straight in the final stages of the race, but he still managed to work home strongly to finish second; giving Busuttin an indication that he could be competitive at Group level during the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival.

“Johnro is a nice Lonhro horse that was a good thing beaten first-up as a two-year-old and he is another horse that we will throw in the noms for some nice races and see how we go,” Busuttin said.

Sangster has not recorded a race win in Australia since he took out the 2011 Victoria Derby, but Busuttin said that the six-year-old will return to Australia for races like the Group 2 Moonee ValleyCup (2500m) and Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m), if he starts his campaign well in New Zealand.

“He is good,” Busuttin said.

“He is probably a little bit behind the others at this stage, but he is due to trial up in about three weeks and we will give him a run or two over in New Zealand and if he can perform well enough he will be on a plane to join the others.”

Author: Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.